


Big Wheel Keep on Turning

by BroadwayBaggins



Category: Mercy Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Karaoke, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 04:10:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6500242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroadwayBaggins/pseuds/BroadwayBaggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Modern AU in which the end of a long day is celebrated, margaritas are drunk, karaoke is not Anne's friend, and Mary and Jed attempt to be Ike and Tina Turner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Big Wheel Keep on Turning

**Author's Note:**

> Just some silly fun! I was prompted for a modern Phoster AU, and this is the result. Title obviously comes from "Proud Mary." Hope you enjoy!

 “Long day?”

 The sound of Doctor Foster’s voice startled Mary, bringing her out of her thoughts of the hospital and back into the crowded bar, full of their coworkers trying to drink off a difficult day. Someone was screeching on karaoke (Mary had the sinking suspicion that it was Anne) and Emma had abandoned her to chat with Reverend Hopkins, leaving Mary to ponder her margarita by herself. She forced a smile, tracing a finger around the salted rim of her glass.

“Is there any other kind?”

He smiled too, although it was strained. Things had been…different, between the two of them over the last few weeks. Mary had discovered Jed’s dependence on drugs and alcohol quite by accident, but rather than being disgusted or ashamed of him as she might have been under other circumstances, she had been spurred to help him. Doctor Jedediah Foster was a brilliant surgeon, despite his addiction, and in spite of herself she could not imagine the hospital without him. He needed help–professional help, no doubt, would be best, but to do that risked exposure that could cause Jed to lose his license to practice medicine, or the hospital to be hit with a lawsuit so bad that they would still be feeling the effects by the time the Green’s great-great grandchildren took over as administrators. No, this needed to be kept quiet, and Mary and Jed had gotten to know each other over the last few weeks on a level that Mary never could have anticipated before. Jed had made extraordinary progress, but he still had a long road to go, and Mary found herself eyeing the bright red drink in his hand skeptically.

“Relax, Phinney,” he said, reading her mind. “It’s a Shirley Temple. Nonalcoholic, I swear on my mother’s life.”

“Good. I’m proud of you.”

He made a face. “It’s not the same.”

“But it’s what you need.”

“God, I hate it when you’re right,” he said, setting the drink down beside her and sliding into Emma’s empty stool. Onstage, Anne was still crooning “I Will Always Love You,” and Mary winced.

“You have to at least admire her confidence.”

“Everyone has at least one good karaoke song in them. This is not Anne’s.”

Mary chuckled, but pushed her drink away from her, falling silent. “I lied to a man today.”

“Mary.”

“I know. I should let it go. But I keep asking myself over and over if it was the right thing to do.”

“You care so much for your patients.”

“Are you going to be like Miss Dix and tell me that it’s a weakness to do so? That I shouldn’t get personally involved, that I’ll be a better doctor for it if I don’t?”

“No, I’m not. I wasn’t going to offer you any advice at all, actually.”

“What were you going to do?”

“Do something to take your mind off of it.”

Mary arched an eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

Anne finished her song onstage, to a small smattering of applause, and Jed grinned and hopped off his barstool. “Come on, Phinney. Your audience awaits.”

“You didn’t.”

“I signed us both up for karaoke. You ready?”

“Jed, no!” Mary protested, shaking her head as Jed grabbed her arm and attempted to pull her up onstage. “Jed, please!”

“Come on. I know you can sing.”

“Not in front of people!”

“Come on, Mary.”

“Singing under my breath or for my patients doesn’t count. Jed…” 

But he was pulling her up onstage whether she wanted to or not, and as they approached, others began shouting their encouragement at Mary, causing her to blush and hide her head. “I’m going to kill you,” she muttered in Jed’s ear as he handed her a microphone.

“Go Mary!” Emma cried out from somewhere in the crowd.

“I don’t even know what song you picked. How do you know I can do it?”

“Because I know you, Mary Phinney,” Jed said as the introduction began and Mary recognized the song. “I know you can handle it.”

“Seriously, Jed? ’Proud Mary?’” she asked skeptically. “I hope you’re not mocking me with this.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he promised. “It just happens to be in my karaoke wheelhouse. I hope you don’t mind.”

“I know it, at least.”

“Then let’s knock ‘em dead, Mary,” he said with a grin as he looked out into the audience and sang the first line. His voice was pleasantly deep and smooth, and Mary smiled as she heard Emma let out a whistle down below.

_“I left a good job in the city  
Working for the man every night and day…”_

Mary joined him for the next lyric, rolling her eyes when he leaned over and nudged her gently with his shoulder. 

_“And I never lost one minute of sleeping_  
 _Worrying ‘bout the way things might have been”_  
  
Someone–it might have been Hale–whooped in appreciation–and Mary’s smile only grew. The crowd began to clap on the beat as they continued. Mary was acutely aware of Jed’s presence beside her, but she found it comforting, even welcome instead of nerve-wracking. They really did sound good together, if she was being honest.

_“Big wheel keep on turning_  
_Proud Mary keep on burning_  
_And we’re rolling, rolling_  
_Rolling on the river_

_Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis_  
_Pumped a lot of tane down in New Orleans_  
_But I never saw the good side of the city_  
_Till I hitched a ride on a riverboat queen_

_Big wheel keep on turning…”_

_“Turning!”_ Mary harmonized.

  
_“Proud Mary keep on burning_  
_And we’re rolling, rolling_  
_Rolling on the river”_

Suddenly, the music changed, and Mary laughed out loud as she realized which version of the song Jed had picked for them to do. The accompaniment was suddenly faster and more upbeat, trumpets and saxes and guitar and drums kicking in as Jed seized Mary’s hand and spun her around before they began the next verse. The crowd cheered, and Mary felt all of her inhibitions and worries about the day leave her all at once. She sang the next lyric with no fear, only joy as she and Jed continued to dance up on that makeshift stage.

_I left a good job in the city,”_ she sang proudly.  
_“Working for the man every night and day_  
_And I never lost one minute of sleeping_  
_Worrying ‘bout the way things might have been_  
  
_Big wheel keep on turning_  
_Proud Mary keep on burning_  
_And we’re rolling, rolling_  
_Rolling on the river!”_

The crowd was going wild, even though Mary wasn’t sure whether she and Jed were actually that good or it was just the alcohol doing them favors. Emma and Henry were swinging and swaying like they were in a Broadway musical, and Anne and Hale were nearby cutting a rug as well. Mary was breathless and sweating under the lights, but her voice never faltered, her feet never missed a step as Jed twirled her around and around, and he never took his eyes off her.

“Shake it, Mary!” someone–Emma?–cried out.

Mary couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy and free, and Jed looked the same as she felt.

_“If you come down to the river_  
_I bet you gonna find some people who live_  
_You don’t have to worry if you got no money_  
_People on the river are happy to give!”_

Now even the crowd was singing along. 

_“Big wheel keep on turning  
Proud Mary keep on burning  
And we’re rolling, rolling  
Rolling on the river!”  
_

The song came to its dramatic conclusion, the crowd burst into cheers and applause, and Mary fell breathless and laughing into Jed’s arms, feeling as if this night had turned out to be pretty amazing after all.

 

 

 

 


End file.
